Esteban Ocon understands that Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu was dissatisfied with his performance during the 2025 season. The French driver then began his first year at Haas, but finished lower in the drivers’ championship than rookie and teammate Oliver Bearman. According to Ocon, however, it was not just his fault: ‘If you read the whole article, and not just the headline, you see that the team also took responsibility’.
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38 World Championship points and a fifteenth place in the drivers’ championship. That was all there was for Esteban Ocon during the 2025 season. Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu was also not satisfied. “If you look purely at the sporting result, without going into detail, surely no one is satisfied with Esteban’s sporting result last year, right?” the Japanese team principal stated. Although he immediately added that Ocon was not solely to blame for the disappointing results: “Sometimes it was also down to the team”.
Ocon agrees with Komatsu
PlanetF1 asked Ocon about his team principal’s statements ahead of the new season. “I think I’m focusing fully on this season first and foremost,” the Frenchman says. “So I don’t necessarily want to talk about 2025, but since you ask, I’ll give you an answer. It wasn’t really a surprise to read Ayao’s comments. We talked a lot over the winter and it’s clear it’s been a season of ups and downs for the whole team. It hasn’t been very easy.”
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“But if you read the whole article, and not just the headline, you see that the team also took responsibility. I also said it was fifty-fifty,” the driver agrees with his team principal. “Last year I suffered from front-wheel lock-ups and instability during twelve, thirteen, fourteen races, and that was very different on the other side of the garage.” The French driver hopes that these problems will be a thing of the past in 2026.
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